forty-one

week forty-one of fifty-two

One highlight of the girl's week was also the highlight of mine! 

My dear friend from college had her first baby the day before Ingrid's birthday

and named her Libby (so cute!)

so when Ingrid received a baby doll for her birthday,

she decided to name her Libby as well.

She had to bring her "Baby Libby" to meet "Real Baby Libby":

and Amelia was equally excited about this visit,

because she had the opportunity to hold her first teeny tiny baby

all by herself!

"Real Baby Libby" was a good sport about it and managed to come out unscathed. 

thirty-nine

week thirty-nine of fifty-two

hard to believe we're almost 40 weeks into the year!

I remember when we were at week 1 and it seems like it wasn't that long ago

....

speaking of things that don't seem like they were that long ago, 

last weekend we attended the wedding of one of my oldest friends

he and his lovely bride threw a fabulous party

(they even had a Kona Icee truck on-site: amazing!!) 

We shared in the company of some great people that I grew up with 

and I am still smiling about it.

I know everyone says they would never go back to high school,

 I can live without ever stressing about an algebra exam,

but those friends and their families were like an extension of my own

so this was kind of like a family wedding

and it was pretty great

to meet (or get to know better) 

the people they have chosen to spend their lives with, 

some of their kids, 

and introduce my own little ones to them!

but that's right.. this project is supposed to be about life through the eyes of the little ones.

this is their contribution (literally)

Ingrid is into self-portraits lately. 

This one is captioned

"I not dirty. I no make a mess with my cupcake." 

thirty-seven

week thirty-seven of fifty-two

Doesn't technology rock!?!

The girls got to meet our dear friend's dear little man

via Google Video Chat

lucky kids these days!! 

Ingrid's comment: "I loooooooooooove baby Mason!"

Amelia's: "I hope he likes the baby toy I picked out for him. 

He looks like he likes dogs. We should be okay." 

thirty-six

week thirty-six of fifty-two

::A CHAIN REACTION STORY::

When our friends came to visit a few weeks ago, 

the boys decided to break out Monopoly

and they were very serious about it.

this led to Issac and I getting hooked on an evening game of Monopoly

I am not very serious about it

In fact, I have favorite properties based on names and colors

and I would rather save my fake money for fake new shoes than buy a hotel on Park Place 

My lack of real-estate saavy frustrates Issac

anyway, our newfound pasttime 

 led to Amelia wanting to be the banker

but since

Counting in fifties and hundreds is a little advanced for her, 

so we dug into the game stash from Grandma Judy

and found Monopoly Junior

and now Amelia is hooked on it as well.

It is nice to have some variety with the board games

we (and anyone else who has visited in the last three months)

has probably played enough "Matches" for a lifetime

twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one & thirty-two.

Here we are again.
Summers are busy,
who knew?

week twenty-nine of fifty-two: 

Ingrid got her first (legitimate) haircut

Which was very well-received because it ended with a very large lollipop from Miss Lorraine:

Week thirty of fifty-two:

We got dressed up and went to ladies lunch with Grandma Judy, Great-Grandma Eleanor, 

and some other wonderful family members 

Week thirty-one of fifty-two:

Sisters with Smoothies

Week thirty-two of fifty-two (only 20 weeks left this year?!?!)

Amelia finished her last week of outdoor summer swimming lessons!

She passed! 

But it was cold that day, so Grandma Mary treated her to a hot cocoa! 

twenty-eight

week twenty-eight of fifty-two

Bliss.

Twenty-Seven

week twenty-seven of fifty-two

I know I said yesterday 

that I couldn't pick a favorite photo from the past week

so I just narrowed it down to 31

(which really is saying a lot 

because I do tend to take quite a few photos)

but if I haaaaaad to choose

I think I would pick this one:

because my goodness are we in the middle of a pirate phase.

If I had gold doubloon for every time I heard 

"Peter Pan" 

or 

"Smee" 

or

"Neverland"

or

"Wendy and Michael and John"

or 

"Yo-Ho"

or 

"Binkerbell!" (from Ingrid)

Up North for the Fourth {in photos}

We were lucky enough to be invited to spend the holiday weekend

with some very dear friends 

at their family's idillic Northwoods cabin

While Issac and I had visited the cabin many times before

Amelia had only visited once:

two summers ago

while I was still pregnant with Ingrid

Miss Ingrid was a cabin first-timer

but, like usual,

 she quickly acclimated to things

and jumped in head first

We took in a tiny town festival 

 where the kiddos played 

some very authentic carnival games

like Ring Toss

Pick-A-Duck

and Ingrid participated in a very competitive live minnow race

the big kids helped her minnow learn the way

(however the little carnie decided that extra help was grounds for disqualification..)

then we headed back to the beautiful cabin

in the woods

for some dinner

(note the photo bombing hungry toddler...)

and some time to chill out by the water

and blow bubbles with our friend Mister Evan.

In the morning, the moms headed out for a bit

while the little ones watched the dads

We're not sure what they did, 

but everyone was all smiles when we returned!

and the moms didn't return empty handed:

99-cent pirate eye patches x 3 = money well spent

FYI: I'm pretty confident this is the only photo I am in all weekend.. 

We snuck in a trip to the park 

to tire out the kids, 

when in reality it really just tired out the grown ups..

Still, we put on our bravest faces 

to take three overtired toddlers

into a restaurant/bar for dinner

Which really actually went quite well.

I ate the first burger I have had in maybe 2 years

(which reminds me, I should take an extra dose of lovastatin..)

 and Amelia drank a Kiddie-Cocktail and used up all of dad's quarters playing Pac-Man

the children didn't fall off of the dock,

though Ingrid almost dove in seconds after this photo was taken

because she said she saw a "fishie"

(disclaimer: these outfits were not coordinated on purpose)

Just before starting the road trip back home, 

we ended the trip with a bang

by stopping off at a pirate ship!

these pirate-loving girls were in heaven!

Ahoy, mateys.

and no trip to the Northwoods is complete without moccasins!

some for me, too!

Gosh we were lucky to spend the weekend 

in such great company (mosquitos excluded)!